Asia Joe Posted 1 hour ago Posted 1 hour ago One of the biggest questions in science is how life first emerged on Earth. Researchers generally agree that the appearance of the first biopolymers and their building blocks marked a critical step in the origin of life (OoL). However, scientists still do not know exactly how a collection of prehistoric inert chemicals (gases) transformed into the first living systems. The mystery remains difficult to solve because the full sequence of events that led to life is impossible to observe directly and extremely challenging to recreate. Over the past century, scientists have proposed numerous hypotheses, most of them centered on chemical evolution occurring either on Earth or in space. Yet each explanation has limitations, often relying on specific experimental findings and/or theoretical assumptions. Several well known models have attempted to explain the (terrestrial) chemical OoL, including the Metabolism-first world (FeS world), Zinc world, Thioester world, RNA world, and Lipid world. While each provides valuable insights, none offers a complete explanation of how life emerged from nonliving matter. No single theory has successfully integrated all aspects of the process into a unified and convincing scenario. A New Framework Built Around Nanozymes To address this challenge, Prof. Yongdong Jin of the School of Biomedical Engineering at Shenzhen University in China has proposed the "nanozymes hypothesis" for the OoL on Earth. The hypothesis suggests that primitive natural mineral nanozymes (MN-zymes), along with later generations of organic small molecule hybridized nanozymes, played a central role in the emergence and evolution of life. According to this idea, these materials were especially important during the earliest stages of life's development, helping generate the first biologically relevant molecules from nonliving substances. Under primitive Earth conditions, MN-zymes may have gradually converted prehistoric inert chemicals (gases) into increasingly complex molecules through a combination of chemical (and physical) processes. The author proposes that this transformation occurred primarily through a process described as "inorganic photosynthesis." Multiple Roles in Early Chemical Evolution The nanozymes hypothesis assigns several important functions to natural MN-zymes. These include (a) catalysis, (b) surface binding/confinement, (c) anti-UV irradiation, (d) (photo-)selection, and (e) energy flow management. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/06/260610003054.htm -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- You mean the story about the lightning starting life is untrue? According to science? I'm shocked to hear that! Even the scientists know it was a fairy tale. Quote
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